Patrons at Calafia Cafe in Palo Alto use the Presto tablet, which can take orders, predict when food will arrive at the table, act as a sommelier, provide self-checkout, split checks and calculate the tip.

CEO and founder Rajat Suri of E la Carte, a new tablet that restaurants can put at every table for do-it-yourself ordering and paying the bill at Calafia in Palo Alto, Calif., on Wednesday, January 11, 2012.

Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle

CEO and founder Rajat Suri of E la Carte, a new tablet that...

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Meghan McGrath (left) from San Jose and Jennifer Campbell (right) from Redwood City look at a new tablet that restaurants can put at every table for do-it-yourself ordering and paying the bill at Calafia in Palo Alto, Calif., on Wednesday, January 11, 2012.

That's why Tsurikov, who works for a small investment firm on the Peninsula, prefers to order his lunch from a computer rather than a server. This week he and two friends tried the Presto tablet, a computer smaller than an iPad and larger than a smart phone, at Calafia Cafe in Palo Alto.

The Presto takes orders, predicts when diners' food will arrive at their table, acts as a personal sommelier, provides self-checkout, splits checks and even calculates the tip. It will either e-mail the receipt or a server can bring a paper one - your choice.

Eventually, it will tell diners what kinds of wines they like based on a personality quiz. And there are games: interactive ones that the whole table can participate in or ones that will keep a child busy for hours.

Restaurants in Japan and Europe have experimented with similar tablets. Big restaurant chains in the United States have employed on-table self-checkout stations. And white-tablecloth establishments have begun listing their wines on iPads. But until now, there hasn't been a system as all-encompassing as the Presto tablet, according to E la Carte, the Palo Alto company that makes it.

"It's the future," said Charlie Ayers, owner of Calafia and the former executive chef of Google. "People say it's very inhospitable. But it's the epitome of hospitality. It empowers the guest to get in and to get out."

Use is growing

Calafia was the first restaurant to test Presto, putting the handheld computer on nearly every table in June. Now, after the successful trial, chains across the country are signing on. Creator Rajat Suri expects that soon every mass-market, mid-range restaurant and bar - and even some independent operations - will start using the Presto or similar technology.

Three years ago Suri, now 26, was a doctorate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He and his pals went out to dinner one night, and when the check came, they were flummoxed on how to divvy it up - apparently MIT students are lost without their calculators. But the experience set the idea for the Presto tablet in motion.

Not too long after, Suri dropped out of the prestigious university and got a job in a sports bar in Cambridge to learn the ins and outs of the restaurant business. Then, he holed up in his rat-infested apartment like a mad scientist.

Y Combinator, a Silicon Valley incubator for budding digital entrepreneurs, found out about his project and told him to come to the Bay Area so they could help refine his E la Carte idea enough to get investors. It worked. The founders of Groupon, Dropbox, Gmail, "FarmVille" and Reddit all wanted in. Now E la Carte employs 30 people.

Trimming costs

The company leases the tablets to restaurants and bars for as little as 50 cents apiece per day, which includes service and maintenance. The tablets are programmable so chefs can change their menus regularly, offer daily specials and update photos of appetizers, entrees, desserts and cocktails.

E la Carte's research shows that the tablet can cut a restaurant's labor costs by 26 percent, increase sales by up to 10 percent per check, and reduce how long diners linger at the table by seven minutes.

Ayers said he's seen Presto sales come in roughly 8 percent higher than orders taken by a server. He suspects that diners are less inhibited to order that extra cocktail or dessert on a computer and are more willing to experiment with dishes they might not ordinarily try. He's seen tables using the Presto ordering method turn 3 1/2 times faster than when diners go the traditional server route. Even the tips for the servers are higher, because diners are happy with their experience, he said.

But as far as labor costs, there has been no savings.

"I would have to completely change my operation," Ayers said. "And since I don't want to become a food-runner type place, I'm not changing."

Instead, Ayers offers diners a choice - Presto or human. More times than not, they pick Presto.

Some customers have even tried to use the tablets to improve their love life.

"One diner wanted to know why he couldn't use it to instant message a pretty woman sitting on the other side of the restaurant," Ayers said. "I told him it didn't work that way, but he might want to think about standing up, walking over to her and introducing himself."

Imagine that.

"We're not totally replacing human interaction," said Suri, the inventor, as he texted on his smart phone. "This doesn't prevent you from talking to a server. But now you have two options."

Archaeologist worried

Katheryn Twiss, a food archaeologist and associate professor at Stony Brook University in New York, is dubious.

"It seems like the front of a wave of lessening the labor force and social interaction," she said. "Soon, no one will be talking anymore."

Twiss worries that children may be losing valuable lessons in socialization, when something as basic as ordering from a waiter in a restaurant becomes obsolete.

"We're increasing segmentation of society as opposed to promoting its communal aspect," she said.

So far she's not concerned about it turning the dining population into a bunch of techno zombies.

"But," she warned, "if I see it at the French Laundry, I'll start worrying about the downfall of civilization."